Stay connected when the network gets weak
SatChat is a private messenger for trails, back roads, boats, and anywhere the signal thins out. Write a message with no connection at all. It sends itself once there is one.
Satellite messaging depends on your iPhone, your carrier and your location.
Three things it does
Most messengers assume a good connection and fall apart without one. SatChat starts from the opposite assumption.
Works offline
Your conversations live on your iPhone. Open the app at the bottom of a canyon and everything is already there, because nothing had to load.
Adapts on its own
When your iPhone drops to a very limited connection, SatChat switches to short text messages and pauses photos and other extras. You never pick a mode.
Sealed on your device
Messages are encrypted on your iPhone before they leave it. The keys stay on your devices, so we hold nothing that opens them.
What we can see, and what we cannot
Plenty of apps say "end to end encrypted" and stop there. That is true and it leaves out something you should know.
We can see that you messaged someone, and when. Delivering a message means knowing where to deliver it, so our servers hold sender, recipient device and timestamp.
We cannot see what you said. Your message is sealed before it reaches us. No warrant, no mistake and no change of heart on our side unseals it, because the keys never leave your devices.
SatChat never uploads your address book. You find people by username, one lookup at a time. Notifications say you have a new message and nothing more, not even who sent it, because a lock screen is the one place a stranger is most likely to be reading.
Full detail lives in the privacy policy.
About satellite
No app on iOS gets direct access to a satellite radio. What iOS does report is when your connection has become very limited, and where your carrier offers satellite messaging, that connection shows up as one of those. SatChat reads that signal and changes what it attempts: shorter messages, fewer round trips, nothing heavy.
Whether satellite is available to you depends on your iPhone model, your carrier and where you are standing. SatChat does not provide satellite service and cannot create coverage.
SatChat does not replace Emergency SOS. Its emergency message goes to contacts you choose, and it does not reach emergency services. For those, use Emergency SOS on your iPhone.
Not out yet
SatChat is in testing and waiting on App Store review. The download link will appear on this page once Apple approves it. Nothing to sign up for in the meantime.
Questions, or want a build to try? hello@kodefoundry.com